Significance
by DorkyDorm
Summary: A series of One-Shots about significant events in the lives of the Hitachiin twins.
1. Equiniphobia

** Here's the series of one-shots I promised! Just so you know, most of them will be from my fanfiction **_**Ignorance is Bliss?**_**, at least at first. If you have any ideas for a one-shot, tell me in a review!**

** Taken From: **_**Ignorance is Bliss?**_** Chapter 2**

** Brief summary: Kaoru becomes equinophobic (afraid of horses) but keep it hidden from his horse-loving twin.**

** Time Period: Grade School, about second grade.**

**A Story that Proves that Hitachiin Kaoru is Not Weak:**

When Kaoru was a little boy, he went to the circus with his nanny. Hikaru was away for some forgotten reason or another, and Kaoru was recovering from a cold. Naturally, his parents forbade him from leaving the house, but upon realizing that he had never been to the circus, his nanny insisted that they go.

In retrospect, it was probably a better idea to stay home.

Kaoru had a great time at the circus, and he was especially fond of the horses. So, when the show was over and the ringleader was offering horse rides, Kaoru begged to go just once around the ring. Back then, the Hitachiin twins were comparable to Hunny when it came to adorableness, so when subjected to the pouty lips and large, glittering eyes, the nanny just couldn't say no.

Kaoru mounted the horse, but in his excitement, he tuned out everything the ringleader was saying about how to sit and hold onto the horse in order to ride safely. At the sound of the whip, Kaoru's horse immediately broke into a gallop. Kaoru fell off the back and was nearly trampled by the Clydesdale behind him.

Ever since, Hitachiin Kaoru has been terrified of horses.

However, when Hikaru was a little boy, he glorified horses. If you will recall, he was not present at the circus, so he did not see the incident with the horses (and Kaoru wasn't talking about it.) So Hikaru kept dreaming of someday owning a horse ranch in the mountains and living like a real life cowboy.

No doubt, if he had seen what had happened, he would have given up all of his fantasies relating to horses, because the accursed animal had nearly killed his smaller, weaker little brother. However, he knew nothing of it and was unintentionally hurting Kaoru with his constant talk.

So whoever says that Kaoru is weak is lying, because for years he suppressed his terror in order to maintain Hikaru's happiness.

The end.


	2. Blind

**Admittedly, this one could have been a lot better, but I'm still practicing my one-shot writing abilities. Give me a break! (Give me a break. Break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar!)**

** Taken From: **_**Ignorance is Bliss?**_** Chapter 2**

** Brief Summary: Hikaru and Kaoru finally meet someone who can tell them apart.**

** Time Period: Middle School, before they meet Tamaki.**

**A Story About a Time When the Hitachiin Twins **_**Should**_** Have Changed:**

Okay, so maybe their game was a _little_ mean, but the twins justified themselves with how the girls always reacted. Two wrong do not make a right, but when counted, there were actually four wrongs every time. And everyone knows that if four rights can make a square, then so can four wrongs.

Kaoru did not argue with his brother's messed up logic. He saw the point in what Hikaru was trying to say, even if he couldn't quite say it right.

They both remember it so vividly, even though it seemed so insignificant at the time. Kaoru had received yet another love letter, and they had arranged to meet the writer at their usual spot. Hikaru took his place behind the hedges as Kaoru approached the girl.

She wasn't at all what he had expected. She was pretty enough, but her head was lowered, allowing her bangs to cover her eyes, and she wasn't smiling or blushing like they usually did.

"Sorry if I kept you waiting," Kaoru started, "But I think you mean this letter for Kaoru. I'm Hikaru. You must have gotten our desks confused, but - "

"Just stop right there," the girl interrupted holding out her hand as a signal to stop. There was a hard edge to her voice. She didn't want any nonsense. Kaoru wouldn't have given her any even if he could speak. "Tell your brother to come out of the bushes. I want to play a little game."

As soon as he got over his shock enough to speak, Kaoru tried to play the whole thing off. "Sorry, but we only play one game, the - "

"The _Which One is Hikaru?_ game. I know. That's what I want to play. Get your brother out here now."

Kaoru didn't actually have to call for his brother, because he had wandered over from his hiding place to see what the commotion was. They both noticed that the girl kept her head down so they couldn't meet her eyes. How was she going to play their game if she didn't look at them?

"Okay, so how does this game work?" she snapped.

"Well," the twins began in unison, "You guess which one of us is Hikaru and which one is Kaoru. If you win - "

The girl held her hand up again, which was for the best, because neither of them knew what happened if someone won.

"I don't need to know the stakes." After only a slight hesitation, she continued, pointing at each twin respectively: "_This_ one is Kaoru. _This_ one is Hikaru."

Neither of them could speak. She had guessed correctly. But how . . . ?

"No way!"

"How did you know!"

"You can't just randomly guess!"

"What's your justification?"

They both stopped shouting. The girl had raised her head to look them in the eyes. Her own were the lightest possible shade of gray, drained of all color and glazed over. She was blind.

"My justification?" she whispered, the edge never leaving her voice. "My justification is that you two are selfish idiots. You only think of yourselves when you play that game. Have you ever once stopped to consider how terrible people feel after they lose? How you only make them feel worse by how you act afterwards? They're just trying to be friendly, you know!

"And as to how I knew who was who? Looks mean nothing to me. I don't care if you _are_ identical; you're two different people with two different personalities. It's hard to fool people when it comes to that."

Without another word, the girl began to walk away. She was halfway across the courtyard before Hikaru found the courage to say something.

"Wait!" he shouted after her. "Why did you - ?"

"Why did I come?" She spoke at a normal volume, but her voice carried across the open air. "You made my cousin cry. I had to do something. You can understand that, right?"

After that day, neither of the twins ever saw the blind girl again, just as they had never seen her before. She appeared for a brief moment in their lives to offer them a wise word of advice, and they brushed it off as a little handicapped girl just trying to help her cousin out, because in essence, that's all she was doing. She didn't know them. She didn't know their side of the story. Just another nuisance. . . .


	3. Sickly

** I know it's not Halloween time, but the chapter was about the Host Club's Halloween party. I swear, it was relevant at the time!**

** Taken From: **_**Ignorance is Bliss?**_** Chapter 4**

** Brief Summary: Hikaru is overly protective of Kaoru, especially when complete strangers fawn over him.**

** Time Period: The twins' first year of life.**

**A Story About the Twins' First Halloween:**

Predictably, they both dressed up as the same thing: Girls. It wasn't as if they had any choice in the matter; they weren't even a year old yet, after all. Their mother just wanted to show off some of her new designs and thought her sons were the perfect models.

Nobody had a problem distinguishing the two apart, either. Not only was Hikaru's wig a different color than Kaoru's, but Kaoru was also a lot smaller and paler. Since birth Kaoru had been sickly and weak, especially compared to Hikaru. In fact, he almost didn't survive birth. This was a constant concern for the entire family. Kaoru was almost one, and he hadn't even said his first word yet, whereas Hikaru was forming semi-coherent sentences. Beyond that, he hadn't the strength to walk and was more susceptible to injuries. If he tried to crawl or if someone tried to pick him up for an extended period of time, he would become faint and lose consciousness if the problem wasn't quickly corrected.

Even at that young age, Hikaru cared deeply for his brother. When Kaoru became dizzy, Hikaru would stop and make him rest. When Kaoru awoke screaming in the middle of the night, Hikaru stayed up with him until the nightmares were gone. Occasionally, he even tried to carry Kaoru after he had learned to walk. However, this led both of them to collapse on the floor in laughter.

So, back to the Halloween aspect of the story, the Hitachiin family attended a costume party. Everybody fawned over the twins, referring to them with smiles and high-pitched tones. Nearly every female in attendance wanted to carry Kaoru around, because he was the smaller one, and therefore cuter. The altitude made Kaoru's head swim, and he began to whine very faintly.

Hikaru noticed this and reached for his brother and screamed with words the lady holding him could barely understand. She only distinguished one word of the little boy's babble: "Kao! Kao!" But she couldn't think of what he meant by it.

His brother's distress set Kaoru off. He forced himself to focus enough to reach and shout back, "Hika! Hikaru!"

The room froze; even Hikaru stopped wailing. The only one oblivious to the silence was Kaoru, who was still crying for his brother. Kaoru's condition was well known among the guests. They knew that he had yet to say his first word, until now.

The woman set the still yelling Kaoru back down, and he immediately ran to Hikaru and enveloped him in a huge hug. The older twin's flagrant astonishment did not keep him from hugging back when Kaoru began to cry.

After that Halloween, Hikaru never left his brother's side, and Kaoru's condition improved. He began walking and talking even better than Hikaru in almost no time at all. He could bear to be held and to run around. He even grew to a healthier size and skin tone, until no one could tell the twins apart.


	4. Brotherly Love

**Just to warn you, Don't expect all this lovey-dovey fluff when you read this one-shot. Little kids don't care much for romance.**

** Taken From: **_**Ignorance is Bliss?**_** Chapter 5**

** Brief Summary: Kaoru falls out of a tree, and Hikaru goes a little overboard. Kaoru is grateful for his brother's protection and decides to repay him for his troubles.**

** Time Period: Grade School, summer.**

**A Story About the Hitachiin Brothers' First Kiss:**

When people try to imagine the twins' first kiss, they usually picture some romantic fluff piece that went a little too far. However, they did not share a first kiss at a Host Club sponsored event. In fact, there were no witnesses to it at all.

It happened way before they even joined the Host Club. It was a warm summer day, as most are in that season, and the twins wanted an adventure. However, despite their massive amount of land, adventure was scarce. So they used their vivid imaginations to create amazing people on astounding quests to vast lands beyond their backyard. They crawled through the garden, hopped over puddles, and climbed some trees. Then they began jumping from tree to tree.

Kaoru knew that he was not as athletic as his brother, but for the sake of adventure, he followed in his footsteps exactly. But a gap between limbs that Hikaru cleared easily presented a challenge for Kaoru. He slipped and fell from the tree. They were only three feet off the ground, but that's a long way to fall when you're still a child.

Kaoru was actually fine. He had landed on his back and was winded, but was otherwise unhurt. Still, all Hikaru knew was that his brother wasn't moving after his fall. He immediately jumped to the ground, scraping his knee as he landed, and began fussing over Kaoru.

"Kaoru! Are you okay? What hurts?" Similar questions followed in quick succession. Kaoru, still breathless, couldn't answer them all as quickly as they were being asked. Finally, he found enough air to laugh shakily.

"Hikaru, I'm okay, really," he assured. "Just help me up."

"A - are you sure you're not hurt?" Hikaru asked with genuine concern. "You really shouldn't be moving if you're - "

"I'll be fine as soon as I stand up."

A doubtful Hikaru extended a hand, which Kaoru gratefully took. With a little difficulty, he pulled himself off the ground.

"You should probably bandage that." Kaoru said, gesturing to Hikaru's scraped knee. "You really didn't have to hurt yourself just to get to me."

This statement brought a small blush over Hikaru's face. "Well, what if you really _were_ hurt? I needed to help you. . . . "

Children know that a kiss is significant. They know that you only kiss people that you really, really like, but they cannot distinguish the difference between a kiss on the cheek and a kiss on the lips. So instead of kissing him on the cheek to show his gratitude, Kaoru kissed Hikaru on the lips.

"I didn't say I regretted that you came to check on me," Kaoru said after they pulled away. "I just wish you had been more careful. Now we have to go clean your wound."

Hikaru was still too surprised from the kiss to argue, so he followed his brother inside and let him fix his knee. They both decided that playing videogames was much less dangerous than adventuring, and that's what they did for the rest of the day.


	5. Snow Day

**If you have discovered this one-shot before I have updated my fanfiction, consider this a sneak peak! You're welcome.**

** Taken From: **_**Ignorance is Bliss?**_** Chapter 6 (upcoming)**

** Brief Summary: The twins lie to make each other happy.**

** Time Period: Around first grade.**

**A Story About the Twins' First Snow Day:**

It wasn't as if they had never seen snow before, they had just never gotten out of school because of it. It was a fascinating concept, and they began to imagine a machine that could make it snow any time they wanted to skip school.

It was a much-needed break. The twins were still quite young and had just realized that no one would ever be able to tell them apart. This knowledge felt like a heavy burden and a constant disappointment. They wouldn't get used to the feeling for some time.

"Hey, Kaoru," their current nanny called. Both twins were sprawled out on the floor of their bedroom, playing their new videogame. She was looking at the wrong twin. "Why don't we go outside and build a snowman?" She knew them well enough to know that Hikaru did not enjoy making snowmen. He was more the kind of child to _destroy_ snowmen or start a snowball fight.

"Sure," Hikaru answered in lieu of correcting her. "Hikaru, are you coming?"

Kaoru shook his head. "Nah, it's still snowing. I'd rather wait until it stops."

With a significant glance at the nanny, Hikaru replied, "Then I don't want to go out, either."

Slightly confused, the nanny left without another word, leaving the two alone.

"Did you really want to go outside?" Kaoru finally asked to fill the silence.

"No," Hikaru answered, "Did you really want to stay inside?"

"No."

The two stared at each other for a second before growing identical smirks. Sometimes, it was nice to be surprised.


	6. Cupcakes

**This is just a cute little piece of fluff that I thought up in World History today. No need to mention how hopelessly bored I was to come up with this. Or how much I was craving a cupcake at the time . . .**

** Taken From: My first official one-shot! Yay!**

** Brief Summary: Some fun with cupcakes . . . that's really it.**

** Time Period: High School, probably second year.**

**Cupcake:**

As Kaoru got older, he noticed that he no longer desired sweets. He would still eat the occasional sucker or brownie, but he had simply outgrown sugary treats in general. It almost made him sick just _watching_ Hunny eat his ungodly number of cakes.

But for whatever reason, he never outgrew cupcakes. No matter how sweet they were, no matter how much icing they had, he would devour cupcakes as if his life depended on it. This he did now as he sat watching TV with Hikaru. Kaoru was curled into his brother's side, Hikaru's arm around his waist. They both had vanilla cupcakes with bluish-purple icing. At his moment, Kaoru was very happy.

"Kaoru, you got some frosting on your face," Hikaru laughed.

"Huh? Where?" Kaoru licked his lips as if expecting a little pile of icing to miraculously appear there.

"On your cheek. How you managed that . . . "

Kaoru desperately tried to attack the frosting with his tongue, but it was out of his reach. Hikaru laughed at him again before cleaning his face with a napkin.

"Honestly, Kaoru. You can insult me in three different languages, but you can't manage to get a bit of fronting off of your face."

"Mmm, _emmener moi, emmener moi maintenant, vous grand poisson._"

"Exactly."

Kaoru let his face slip into the parody of a pout. "You could at least have had the decency to lick it off," he admonished playfully. "Where's the fun in using a napkin?"

Hikaru just smirked and replied, with all sincerity, "Okay, fine. I'm sorry for being sanitary. I promise I'll lick it off next time."

Maybe Hikaru shouldn't have added that last part, because as soon as he said it, he caught the familiar mischievous glint in Kaoru's eyes. They set their cupcakes down, Hikaru perhaps a little more carefully than Kaoru, and the younger twin spread some of his frosting onto his lips like lip balm.

Hikaru chuckled softly before leaning into his brother and whispering, "Let me know if I'm doing this right."

He attacked the sugary substance with his tongue first, licking most of it off before turning it into a passionate kiss. After a while, Kaoru moaned a little, both in pleasure and complaint, and Hikaru pulled away.

"Hikaru . . . " Kaoru muttered, trying to catch his breath. He leaned back into Hikaru and licked some leftover frosting from his cheek. "That's how you do it."


	7. Anemia

** This is just a bit of fluff I came up with on the spot to introduce chapter 7 of **_**Ignorance is Bliss?**_**. It's basically saying how Hikaru feels that, as the older twin, he has certain duties to protect Kaoru. When Kaoru passes out (or when he confesses how much his secret hurt in the fanfiction) Hikaru feels that he has somehow failed Kaoru.**

** Taken From: Chapter 7, **_**Ignorance is Bliss?**_

** Brief Summary: Kaoru passes out at school and gives Hikaru some sagely advice.**

** Time Period: Probably the first or second year of Middle School.**

**A Story About When Hikaru Failed Kaoru:**

It was only for a week. He was only gone for a week, and it wasn't like he could never visit him. Still, Hikaru panicked when Kaoru was whisked to the hospital.

Despite how healthy Kaoru appeared, especially compared to his first year of life, he still suffered from anemia. On this day in particular, Kaoru had missed both breakfast and lunch and was reading in the late spring sun. When the bell rang to go back inside, he stood up and swayed on his feet for a moment before passing out.

Kaoru wouldn't wake up no matter how Hikaru cried, and the school called an ambulance to take him away. Hikaru was left behind. Because his parents were away, he didn't get to see his twin again until late afternoon the next day.

The sight made him burst into tears. Kaoru looked so pale and fragile, like a porcelain doll. he still had an IV in his arm, but at the sight of his family, a wide grin found its way across his face. Kaoru attempted to sit up but still lacked the strength.

"Hikaru?" he asked innocently. "Why are you crying?"

Hikaru wiped the tears away with his sleeve and attempted to stop the ones threatening to fall. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. Really," he added when he saw that his brother didn't believe him. "I didn't hit my head too badly when I fell, and as soon as they're done with _this_ thing - " he motioned towards the blood bag that was connected to his IV - "I should be able to go home!"

Hikaru eyes the bag suspiciously. "So . . . that's someone _else's_ blood?"

Kaoru wrinkled his nose. "Yeah. It's kinda weird, isn't it? It feels weird to think about, anyway."

While their parents went to talk to the doctors, Hikaru sat on the edge of Kaoru's bed and questioned him in whispers.

"Okay, how are you _really_ doing?"

Kaoru didn't even try to argue.

"Terribly. You saw, I couldn't even sit up when you came in."

"Why didn't you tell anyone you weren't feeling well?"

"I didn't think much of it. Other kids skip meals all the time, and they still go out to play. I figured that's what it was supposed to feel like."

Finally: " . . . How did it feel? To pass out like that, I mean."

Kaoru looked hard into Hikaru's eyes, as if desperately trying to tell him something telepathically. "If you can avoid it, don't ever pass out, Hikaru. It's a terrible feeling. You know it's coming, but you can't stop it. It's almost like you're drowning and there's no one there to help you. You're unconscious, but you can still vaguely understand everything that's going around you. You understand the panic and confusion, but you can't do anything about that, either. And when you finally wake up, you're so weak that you can't even sit up or talk. You're entirely helpless."

Hikaru tore his eyes from his brother's intense gaze. The whole time, Kaoru was going through all that, and he had done nothing to help him. He had been lost in his own sense of panic and had neglected his duties as the older brother.

"And, Hikaru," Kaoru continued softly, resting a hand on his twin's arm. "If you can avoid it, never blame yourself for my mistakes."

It was a good piece of advice, but Hikaru found that he couldn't follow it.


	8. Nightmares

** Okay, I know I promised a perverted one-shot, but I couldn't bring myself to write it. There are too many writers that make Hikaru and Kaoru's relationship all about sex, and I am not willing to turn into one of them. If you want me to write the Tootsie-Pop story, let me know in a review or a pm or something.**

** Also, if you read **_**Ignorance is Bliss?**_** as well, I have posted a poll on my profile concerning my fanfiction. Please vote honestly!**

** This little story is called "Nightmares" and is based off a poem that I recently wrote for chapter eight of **_**Ignorance is Bliss?**_** Unfortunately, it's in Estonian, so you can only understand it if you know Estonian . . . or if you have access to internet. (P.S.~ It lost something in translation, but I'm still very proud of it.):**

**Peaaegu alati on:**

_**Heledaim tuled ei saa kontrasti.**_

Thy kodus on starry ööd.

Teie kiss ulatub järsu valu.

O, õiglane ja kaunis Eliisabeti tumedamad painajaista hõõgus saate.

Kunagi Eliisabeti kunagi kaugel

Ja alati, kui ma olen teile.

**Nightmares:**

As is often the case in reoccurring nightmares, Kaoru knew what was coming, even as he fell asleep. He was getting so little sleep lately, he was losing consciousness in nearly every class. He had even fallen asleep during Host Club once, for which Tamaki would have normally killed him if it Hikaru hadn't had the sense to work it into their act.

The reason for Kaoru's sleep deprivation was the nightmare that he knew would come. Every night it was the same one, and every night he woke up crying or in a cold sweat. The night they started, Kaoru awoke to find that he had - to his extreme embarrassment - wet the bed and was tremendously grateful that he had chosen to sleep in his own bed that night. Even in his terror, Kaoru hadn't slept with Hikaru since the nightmares started.

Kaoru braced himself when he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.

_He opened his eyes, but it was still dark. It was always that indescribable blackness, in which he could see perfectly despite the absence of light. When Kaoru looked up, he saw a million stars that offered no clarity but insisted on a sense of security. When he looked down, he saw his reflection, as if he were standing on black water. When he looked around, he saw nothing at all._

_ Then, right on cue, a flash of light illuminated his peripheral vision. It was not blinding, but it was warm and welcome. He knew who the light brought._

_ Hikaru threw himself at Kaoru in a huge hug. There was fear in his eyes, but a smile upon his face. He immediately forced his lips on him. He didn't try to argue or force Hikaru away; the kiss was good. But it soon came with a sharp pain._

_ The pain did not belong to Kaoru. It was Hikaru's. White flashed in front of their eyes for a moment, but the kiss was not broken. A second, more intense pain flashed behind their eyelids, but still, Hikaru insisted on their embrace._

_ Finally, a third shot of pain drove though their bodies, and there was suddenly a lot of blood. All of it was Hikaru's. He opened his mouth wide as if to scream, but what Kaoru heard did not sound like a scream. It was loud and high pitched and strangled. It was a terrible sound that seemed to never end._

_ Hikaru fell to the ground, and Kaoru followed him, willing his brother to calm down while fresh tears steadily fell down his own face. _Death should be peaceful,_ he thought. _There should be no pain, only bliss._ But Hikaru would not die. He bled, and he screamed, and he clutched at Kaoru for dear life. Or rather, dear death._

_ This was the only part of the nightmare that ever changed. Sometimes Kaoru shot his brother to relieve his pain, sometimes he knocked him unconscious, other times he simply let him bleed out._

_ This was a time when Hikaru was left suffering. Kaoru saw the life leave his pleading eyes and the color drain out of his skin as Hikaru died the most painful death imaginable._

Back in reality, Kaoru awoke to someone screaming. It took a while for him to realize who exactly was in such a state of terror to make such a horrible sound, and he didn't stop when he realized it was him. The sight of his brother's dead, glassy eyes, frozen in an expression of suffering, was still fresh in his mind. The residual feel of Hikaru's blood running cold over his hands left him thrashing around in bed, wanting so badly for his skin to feel clean.

Only when he felt someone's warm arms around him did Kaoru stop. He contented himself with crying and breathing deeply while he tried to figure out what was going on. The ceiling above him offered no answers, but he was afraid of what he might see if he looked away. Had the terrified, bleeding Hikaru followed him into reality? But when Hikaru spoke, it was not in the terrible, strangled scream of his nightmares.

"It's okay, Kaoru. It was only a dream."

Kaoru didn't answer. He squeezed his eyes shut and let his tears fall. He didn't trust himself to speak.

"It didn't really happen. Please don't cry, Kao."

This only make him cry harder into Hikaru's shoulder. Hikaru closed his eyes and held his brother tighter, his own tears threatening to fall.

"You know I'll never leave you, Kaoru. I won't let myself die before you."

Kaoru didn't ask how he knew what his dreams were about. It was just something that Hikaru knew, and that was all there was to it.

After Kaoru had cried himself out and Hikaru had offered a few of his own tears, they fell asleep, still holding onto each other. It was the first time in a long time that Kaoru's sleep had been dreamless.


End file.
